today. i'm jake tapper and i leave you in the able hands of my friend wolf blitzer. he is next door to me in the situation room. take it away, wolf. >> thanks very much. happening now, north korea moves a missile into place for a possible launch and accuses the united states of bringing the region to the brink of war. for many his movie reviews made him a star and his real life battle made him a hero. we'll remember the legendary film critic roger ebert. and are those forced spending cuts now forcing cancer clinics to turn away patients? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." so far it's been only a war of words between north korea and the united states, but the north is now raising the stakes again. a u.s. official says it has moved missile and launch components to its east coast amid signs it could be planning a launch. north korea says the united

states is pushing the region to the brink of war. the obama administration now trying to answer with some diplomacy. let's go straight to our white house correspondent working the story and has the latest. what is the latest? >> reporter: wolf, you talk to white house officials and they'll tell you consistently dealing with north korea there is sort of this ultimate desire to be the grownup in the room and they feel forced to do that at times. this does appear to be an effort to give kim jong un a bit of a diplomatic offering in what has become this escalating war of words. the white house insists their recent show of force and the rhetoric you've seen and also some very real actions like those b-2 bombers with nuclear capabilities participating in those joint exercises with north korea moving two u.s. warships closer to the north korean coast line, the white house insists those things were necessary. a show of force to deter north korea and show there are real

consequences for this hostile posture that it's been taking. but today coming from the state department, yes. some diplomacy. >> but we have also been saying all the way through that this does not need to get hotter, that it can -- we can change course here if the dprk will begin to come back into compliance with its international obligations, will begin to cool things down, take a pause. >> now, the situation has reached a fever pitch here in recent days but it's something that has been escalating now for months, wolf, as you know, since december when north korea successfully launched a ballistic missile into orbit. this was a step obviously toward being able to deliver a nuclear weapon. that's why it was so concerning. then in february another nuclear test. this was followed by more u.n. sanctions in march and we've

really seen things ratchet up from there, wolf. >> basically what are you hearing from officials over there? how did the white house formulate this response? obviously, one miscalculation could trigger all out war. >> that is certainly right. i think that's why you're seeing some of this change in tone that we've seen today. i will tell you just the attention to north korea is something that has increased dramatically here in recent days, wolf. obviously president obama is being briefed a lot more and secretaries kerry and hagel, cia director brennan are all very much in more contact over north korea. the group that's really been spending the time in the situation room spending the hours talking about north korea are their deputies. they have i'm told by a senior administration official they have been meeting much more frequently here in the last week and a half. that includes tony blinken who is the deputy national security adviser and then you have the deputy, basically the deputy secretaries or the

undersecretaries for defense, for state. the deputy director of the cia and the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. they have been very much in discussions, wolf, and almost in kind of constant contact where they're meeting in person here at the white house. >> brianna kueeeler watching th all unfold. stand by. we'll have a situation room special report and focus entirely on the new north korean crisis. that will begin at the top of the hour 6:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. but there is other breaking news we're following right now about an american cultural icon. his movie reviews made him a star and his real life battle with cancer made him a hero to so many people here in the united states. the pulitzer prize winning film critic roger ebert died today. cnn's a.j. hammer takes a closer look at his distinguished career.

unfortunately it looks like we have a technical problem there with a.j. hammer's report. we'll fix that and get back to that report the obituary of roger ebert. the president of the united states said this, quoting president obama, michelle and i are saddened to hear about the passing of roger ebert. for a generation of americans and especially chicagoans roger was the movies. when he didn't like a film, he was honest. when he did he was effusive, capturing the unique power of the movies to take us somewhere magical. that is the president of the united states releasing his statement. let's get a closer look now at roger ebert and his very influential work. the executive producer of ebert's ground breaking show "at the movies" is joining us right now, david plummer.

give us a thought, david. this is a loss for all of us. >> honestly, it is a loss for all of us. hearing what president obama said, you know, it just goes to show what a huge force he was. i mean, this is a movie critic. the president of the united states isn't going to say the words that he said in that statement for anybody and it goes to show that roger sort of went past just being a movie critic and became much bigger than that and honestly much bigger than many of the movie stars that he covered. he was a bigger celebrity than many of them. so a huge loss today both personally and, you know, on a national level. >> how passionate was he about his work? >> he's the most passionate person i've ever met about the movies, about his work. i mean, the man continued to just have -- his work load was so above and beyond what any

other critic in the country was doing. he continued, i think last year he reviewed more than like 350 movies. somewhere around there. that is a huge work load. and while it may be just sitting in the dark watching a movie, that's still a lot of work and a lot of writing that has to be done and he continued to do that all the way through last year. >> despite his illness and we'll have more on that in a moment. also right now the film critic for "new york" magazine, he really changed the way some of us saw film critics. >> i like to call him the mayor of movie criticville. most of our breed are kind of twisted loners whereas roger, beginning, once he stopped drinking and stopped going to the playboy mansion which he did i guess in the '70s, he really began to think of himself as a public figure. almost a politician. he actually brought people in not only to the joy of movies but to the joy of talking about movies. he set an example with gene

siskal for actually having a dialogue in which people just didn't say i liked it. well i liked it too. i mean, it was actually, you could actually dig in. i think one thing roger had, he didn't have a particularly strong aesthetic. what he did have which i'm sure we all envy who are on television is the ability to begin a paragraph and know exactly what he is going to say at the end of the paragraph. the man fought and spoke in paragraphs and he could really -- he was a great teacher. he could kind of lead you into something and make you experience it with him and do a good reporter's job of, you know, telling you exactly what it's about which most of us fail at abysmally. >> what will be his legacy do you believe? >> well, i think it's that. i think he, in the beginning he and gene siskal used to be on tv and everybody knew they kind of loathed each other and used to

fight and were sort of the fat guy and the other one and what gave ebert the legitimacy was that pulitzer of his. by the end he created this huge and wonderful and giving and loving and open community around himself particularly on the web. also in his writing and also on television. i think for the vast majority of people this dying profession, film criticism, he legitimized it and legitimized film love and he was our mayor, our leader. we will miss him terribly. the gap is already there. >> in these last few years we've all watched his struggle with cancer. he was very, very open about it. he was tweeting a lot, writing, even though it was obviously painful and difficult. tell our viewers a little bit of how he inspired so many people as a result of this fight, this war against this cancer.

>> yeah. you know, i think when you're faced with the sort of adversity roger was faced with you have two choices. you have the-ice chois to go hide away and never be seen again or you have the choice to come out and face it and let everyone see who you are and then go on living your life. and he chose to do that. he chose to show people, you know, what he looked like. to show people that even though he did look a little strange he was still the same roger ebert. and so i think that he was an inspiration to a lot of people that were facing some very tough times. and, you know, the guy, i think, became more productive after he got sick. when he discovered twitter, that was like his lifetime -- his life line to his fans because, you know, he couldn't speak anymore so he couldn't talk to them on tv but he could still communicate with them on twitter. he could communicate with them directly and they loved him for it. >> they certainly did. all of us did. and he will be missed because he

did in fact change the way all of us deal with movies and film critics and a lot, lot more than that. guys, thanks very much for reflecting a little bit on roger ebert. >> thank you, wolf. coming up what would ronald reagan think about same sex marriage? two of his children take some different positions on the subject. and are forced spending cuts forcing cancer clinics to turn away patients? that and a lot more coming up right here in "the situation room." awwwww... arigato! we are outta here! party...... finding you the perfect place, every step of the way. hotels.com

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the forced spending cuts sweeping through the federal government are forcing cancer clinics to turn away some patients. what is going on? we asked lisa sylvester to take a closer look at this. what are you learning? >> wolf, we are getting a bet leerk at how the forced budget cuts are impacting lives of regular americans and for cancer patients it could be big changes to where they received their treatment. at the heart of it is a congressional mandate for 2% cut for medicare payments.

thomas has nonhodgkins lymphoma and has been coming to this cancer clinic in new york for nine years. he gets regular infusions for his immune system and occasionally chemotherapy. but the clinic informed him a few weeks ago that he cannot continue his treatment here. the reason? congress's forced budget cuts have reduced medicare treatments to providers by 2%. >> this is totally ridiculous. they can't cut 2%. i can cut 2% and i can without hurting my family. this hurts people. don't they realize that? let them come -- let's change their lives. >> reporter: that means going to a hospital instead where he fears longer waits and more out of pocket expenses. the issue here? the federal government under the medicare program sets the price for drug reimbursement. oncologist jeff biserka says

cancer clinics are already operating at slim margins. what the 2% means is they'll be reimbursed at less than the market cost for drugs. >> for the drugs which are under water right now which tend to be the more expensive ones if you continue to administer them while you're losing money because the cost is so high practices won't stay in business. >> reporter: a survey by the community oncology alliance found 72% of cancer clinics will refuse to take on new medicare patients or ask existing patients to find treatment elsewhere. an independent study found the difference between treatment at a hospital and care at a clinic is $6500 annually. a group of cancer organizations has written letters to lawmakers to press the agency overseeing the medicare program to exempt cancer drugs and treatment from the 2% cuts. the centers for medicare and medicaid services won't comment on the issue. but thomas has lots to say. >> they make laws and we have to

live by them. it's terrible. >> about 66% of chemotherapy patients receive treatment currently at a physician's clinic. if the clinics are no longer offering the cancer treatment that raises a whole other issue, whether the hospitals can even absorb all of the new patients. right now the easiest way to fix this is for congress to step in and try to get the cancer drugs exempt. >> any initiative you're seeing in congress to do that? >> well, it's interesting. since this news broke within the last 24 hours, since this became apparent this was an issue there were some 50 lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle, both democrats and republicans who have reached out to the oncology group saying, we want to support legislation. we want to start legislation to try to fix this. it's not even clear at this point if the congress even intended for cancer drugs to -- for this to apply to the 2% cut but that is the reality we're facing and unless there is some kind of congressional action, some pressure to bear on the medicare agency, we're not going

to see any of this change, wolf. >> i suspect the pressure will mount. lisa, thanks very much. we're starting to see obviously the effects of these forced spending cuts. so far the public at least is not necessarily demanding a solution to what is seen as the fiscal impasse. our chief political correspondent candy crowley is joining us right now with some analysis. where do we go from here? >> it sounds like lisa is on to something. when these things crop up and reach the point where half of congress is looking at it, that they will piece meal, try to fix some of these things. but i think the general ship has sailed as far as i can see at least politically on the so-called sequestration. the forced budget cuts. they went into effect. no one that i can see has been out there saying we need to undo these now. we've seen the president saying, well, just in solidarity for those who are going to be furloughed i'm taking a pay cut. we saw the defense secretary saying the same thing. i don't see anyone out there saying this needs to be fixed.

i think that ship has sailed. we knew it would take a month or two months for some of the effects to be felt. so when things like this come up i think you are going to see congressmen or senators coming forward and saying we need a bill to fix this. it'll be pretty piece meal it sounds like. >> i suspect you're right. the president by the way is making his first fund raising push of this a second term in office. let me read to you, candy, and our viewers what he said about the 2014 contest last night at a fundraiser in california. he said, my hope is that we're going to see more and more republicans who say, you know what, i didn't come here just to fight the president or demonize nancy pelosi. i came here to get some stuff done. i could get a whole lot more done if nancy pelosi is the speaker of the house. that was the president saying that. he'd get a lot more done. the president though seems to be walking a bit of a tight rope here raising money for democrats while at the same time trying to work with republicans. how do you do that without

alienating, let's say, the republicans in your -- you got this charm offensive. you're reaching out to them. but then you're blasting them at these fundraisers. >> seems like a two track approach. politics are the reality of washington sooner or later the president was going to start fund raising. what this does, clearly, is give people in the house, republicans in the house, republicans in the senate the opportunity to say, the president isn't dealing with us sincerely. he is out, you know, once a week, once a month. however long. bashing us because what he wants is gridlock. because that's how he thinks he is going to get a democratic house. on the other hand the president's a little stuck because democrats were a little wary that he wasn't going to help them raise money. he's more interested in this other group that came off of his obama for america that's now issues oriented. that's where he wanted to raise money. he promised the house and senate democrats that he would raise money for them.

so it is something a president does. we all know the president would prefer a democratic house. but it certainly does add to the heightened suspicion that is already as you know fairly high on both sides. >> interesting development involving the late president ronald reagan. his children now very publicly, candy, taking opposing stances on same sex marriage. listen to patty davis saying she believes her father if he were alive today would support same sex marriage and then her much more conservative half brother michael reagan disagreeing. >> i think he would be puzzled on the one hand at why anyone would have a problem with people wanting to be married because he wanted government out of people's lives. >> i don't believe in gay marriage. many people don't. i think you can have a debate on that. i don't believe it. i think it does send a slippery

slope. i think if you accepted the redefinition of marriage, they have to accept the redefinition all the way down the line. >> what do you think of this fight, this reagan fight over same sex marriage? >> well, i don't think it's unusual. probably for some families across america and certainly not for this one. michael reagan has long been a conservative talk show host and patti davis has always been a liberal as has her brother ron. so they disagree on whether same sex marriage should be legalized and that doesn't strike me as strange. i have not heard michael take a stance on what his father would have thought but it's, you know, a pretty predictable argument. what's interesting about this of course is that conservatives still look at ronald reagan with a social conservative -- whether social conservatives or fiscal conservatives as the iconic republican. and so it is interesting to hear his daughter's take on what she thinks her father would have

thought. >> it certainly is. all right. who knows? he's not around to tell us what he would have thought right now on this issue. candy, thanks very much. when we come back a democratic congresswoman mocked in the gun debate. you'll find out what she said that one republican called and i'm quoting now, stunningly stupid. plus we're just learning that the new secret service director may have been the victim of a pretty serious crime. we'll explain right here in "the situation room." my mantra? trust your instincts to make the call. to treat my low testosterone, my doctor and i went with axiron, the only underarm low t treatment. axiron can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant

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happening now the chairman of the republican party makes a bold attempt to link a leading

woman's health organization with the killing of newborn children. is he putting the gop rebranding effort under way right now at risk? hillary clinton has a new book on the way and a new 2016 supporter who is ready to begin laying the ground work for a potential presidential campaign. as north korea's threats against the united states reaches fever pitch we're devoting a special hour here in "the situation room" to the looming crisis coming up at the top of the hour. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." even as the gop struggles with an image problem it talks about rebranding itself. reince priebus has taken a page apparently from the old playbook linking women's health provider planned parenthood to the killing of newborn children and blasting the media for not covering a controversial hearing. athena jones is covering this for us and has the details.

>> reporter: the rnc is fired up about planned controversial testimony from a planned parenthood group in florida. the republican national committee chief vs. the media. party chair reince priebus says most major news outlets ignored what this woman said about whether a doctor should save the life of a baby born alive during a failed abortion. >> we believe any decision made should be left up to the family -- to the woman, family, and physician. >> reporter: the lobbyist for planned parenthood was testifying last week before a panel of florida lawmakers about a bill that would affect laws governing abortions when she said this. >> you stated that the baby born on a table is a result of a botched abortion that that decision should be left to the doctor and the family is that what you're saying?

>> that decision should be between the patient and the health care provider. >> i think at that point the patient would be the child struggling on the table, wouldn't you agree? >> that is a very good question. i really don't know how to answer that. >> reporter: the abortion rights supporter's doubt about whether to save the hypothetical child could have been big news priebus says. he argues the national media jumped at the chance to cover last week's passage of a tough new north dakota law restricting abortion but gave planned parenthood and its supporters a pass on this potentially embarrassing story. planned parenthood had to clarify the situation saying while the law addresses a situation that is extremely unlikely and highly unusual if the scenario presented by the legislation should happen, of course a planned parenthood doctor would provide appropriate care to both the woman and the infant. abortion is a big issue for republicans with more than 60% saying it should be illegal in

most or all cases. >> this gives the rnc a chance to reassure social conservatives even though the winds are blowing against them on gay marriage, on abortion the republican party is in the fight for the long run. >> one more thing here. i spoke with the rnc about this and they say this is not a party issue. it's not a republican base issue. it's a human issue and they say anyone who heard this testimony would find it, quote, repugnant. but the official i spoke with also said that when conservatives see the rnc holding the left accountable on issues like this it's also good for the party. there you go, wolf. >> all right. thanks very much. let's dig a little bit deeper on this very sensitive issue. is it a miscalculation for the rnc chairman to go after planned parenthood right now? let's discuss it. our strategy session joining us. our cnn contributors, the democratic strategist paul bogola and the republican strategist. smart for reince priebus to do this or not so smart to try to

rebrand the republican party and make it more friendly toward women? >> in the column he wrote in "red state" he brought up two different issues. one was media bias which is something conservatives, republicans feel does exist and that we have to exist in that environment. and it is true that this case, this hearing, this testimony by planned parenthood received very little media coverage even in florida. as you know, i live in florida. i'm a political news junkie. i have practically not heard anything about this until i saw the column by reince priebus. and there is something that is, i think, nonnegotiable for republicans and it's not when life begins. we can disagree on that, republicans and democrats can disagree on that. even republicans amongst themselves can disagree on that. but certainly, we can agree that when a baby is born, when a baby -- when there is a botched abortion and a baby is on a table, at that point it is a

life that deserves some help from a doctor. so i think the issue is not the same as when you're talking about gay marriage or when you're talking about immigration, when you're talking about tone when speaking to minorities and policies when dealing with minorities. it is a different issue, one that is really of the heart for republicans and reince was making the two points -- media bias and that this is just an untenable position. as we saw, planned parenthood reacted and corrected what was an awful lobbyist's testimony. >> they certainly did. what do you think, paul? >> first, from the reporting i've seen, the woman testifying was not a doctor, not a nurse, not a health care provider so she didn't know the health care policy planned parenthood has. as a political guy though it is a huge mistake for republicans to continue what my party has labeled the war on women. you know, the planned parenthood, only 3%, 3% of the

health services planned parenthood offers are abortion services. all the rest, the other 97%, are preventing unwanted pregnancies, preventing cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer. they do an enormous amount of work, great work for women and actually some men all across america. one in five american women has been treated at a planned parenthood clinic. when republicans go to war against planned parenthood they're going to war against the american women. it is not good policy and frankly very bad politics for the republican chairman. let's move on and talk about hillary clinton for a moment. i was intrigued by james carville, our friend. >> who? >> remember james carville? he is now behind this ready for hillary pac e-mailing supporters. i'll put it up on the screen. there hasn't been a presidential election in my lifetime when democrats have been as united behind a potential candidate as we are today. we owe it to hillary to start putting the building blocks of her campaign together now. the modern political campaign

demands it. paul, not very subtle from james. >> well, you know, james, and i am a good, old fashioned shoe leather reporter. this was hard to do but i was able to reach james carville. somebody i speak to every day for i don't know, 28 years now. here's what he said. these very nice people who run this pac, support hillary, he supports hillary. they asked him to sign an e-mail. he did so. he is not joining a pac or any other organization. james is not a joiner. but he was happy. look. this is not i think news flash. james carville wants hillary to run for president. let me make more news. i want hillary to run for president. i think she would be a great president. that's all that this is. i hope she runs. i know actually she watches every dachlt she is a huge fan. hillary, please run. the country needs you. you would be a wonderful president. >> you think she is a lock, anna, for the democratic nomination? a lot of people thought that in 2007 and 2008 and a relatively unknown democratic senator from

illinois eventually got the democratic presidential nomination. >> you know, i can't predict democrats. they seem to like unknowns unlike republicans. but right now in this 2016 preamble it seems everything is topsy-turvy. like paul i'd like to see hillary clinton run. i think she would be an adult in the room and we'd see a much different campaign than what we saw just this november which was a very trivial campaign about dancing horses and dogs. i'd like to see adults actually debate issues that affect the country and i think it would be great to have a woman on the ticket. now, we have on our side some great adults that could go up against her and we have a hillary clinton who has been a stateswoman for the last four years, not a politician. so it's a different ring. i think it's great what james carville is doing. the rage u.n. cajun is a loyal guy. he loves the clintons. guess what? she penned a book deal and keeping up the flames of presidential speculation is going to keep her feet up high

for her speaking fees and help sell that book. ask sarah palin. >> we'll see what happens on both of those frorngts tnts, th and the campaign. up next, could one of the most notorious white collar criminals be getting out of prison earlier than expected? new information coming in. also coming up, could the new director of the u.s. secret s service be the victim of a crime? we inspect, analyze and recondition each one, until it's nothing short of a genuine certified pre-owned... mercedes-benz for the next new owner. ♪ hurry in to your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for 1.99% financing during our certified pre-owned sales event through april 30th. did you know that if you wear a partial, you are almost twice as likely to lose the supporting teeth?

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killed in an armed attack on a court building in afghanistan that went on for almost nine hours according to an official. another 100 people were injured. the official says the firefight is now over and nine armed attackers have been killed by afghan security forces. former enron ceo jeffrey skilling may end up with a shorter prison sentence than he expected according to the justice department. skilling was sentenced back in 2006 to 24 years after being convicted on a number of charges including fraud and insider trading. the justice department says his original sentencing was conducted under improper guidelines. they declared bankruptcy in 2001. the long rumored facebook phones seem to be one step closer to reality after unvoelg a custom home screen for android smart phones. the new feature integrates services like instagram and facebook messenger into one operating system.

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the rutgers university basketball coach mike rice is gone but the controversy over his abusive behavior and delayed firing is not going away. the new jersey governor chris christie weighed in today saying and i'm quoting him now this was a regrettable episode for the university but i completely

support the decision to remove coach rice. we'll go to the campus of rutgers university right now for all the latest developments including what was a bonus, pam, for the fired coach. what's going on? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. we have been on campus today trying to get some answers. the day after firing head basketball coach mike rice rutgers university officials staying tight lipped over the athletic director and the university president over how they handled the situation after learning of allegations of player abuse. as you mentioned, wolf, we have learned today that mike rice will walk off campus with a bonus. he was fired for this. punching, grabbing, and kicking his players. but mike rice, whose annual salary was just increased to

$750,000 also will get a $100,000 bonus for staying with rutgers through the end of this season. had he been fired when university officials found out about the video, he wouldn't have gotten the bonus. amid calls for the dismissal of the athletic director some faculty members are so fired up they're calling for the university president to step down. >> we're a great university but i think our president does not uphold our values as a university. >> reporter: the investigation into rice's behavior began as the university was vying for membership in the big ten. >> i don't see how we can stand in frobt of our students and say that we do this research but when it comes to big ten money and when it comes to sports and getting in the big ten that all those things go out the window and you can call people the filthiest, most homophobic words and that's okay because this is about sports. sports is not separate from education. >> reporter: now the focus is on who at the university knew what

and when. and in an interview tuesday athletic director tim bruneti said this. >> i was aware of the tape when i handed down the suspension at the end of december. >> did your president see the tape? >> yes. >> reporter: in a statement released yesterday the president said he watched the video for the first time tuesday. our attempts to reach them at the university were unsuccessful. >> no, ma'am, not today. >> reporter: as the fall out grows some of rice's former players are saying the video is not what it seems. >> a lot of those times on the film when he was jacking up a player or throwing a ball he was really joking. >> reporter: some faculty members want to garner more support for a letter demanding greater accountability on the part of athletic director tim prenetti. in the state capital there are calls for a legislative investigation into what happened here on campus. wolf? >> much more on this story obviously in the days ahead. thanks very much. just ahead here in "the

situation room" why is senator rand paul backing a group that accuses some of his fellow republicans of being soft on gun control? and north korea's threats against the united states reaching a fever pitch. we'll have a special edition of "the situation room" on this crisis with north korea coming up right at the top of the hour. you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed: the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪ we believe it can be the most valuable real estate on earth. ♪ that's why we designed our newest subaru from the back seat

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we're following some new signs that rand paul's star is certainly rising inside the gop. the kentucky senator is slated to headline a key dinner in the traditional first of the nation primary state, that would be new hampshire, next month. joining us to talk about his growing star power, the managing editor of "time" magazine, rick stangel. rick, thank you for coming in. you've got a new article entitled "the rebel, can he reshape the party that his father never took seriously." what's the bottom line? he certainly seems to be moving way beyond anything his father, congressman ron paul, did. >> i would say what he's doing, wolf, using another political word, he's triangulating. he's triangulating between the libertarian supporters of his

father, and tea party supporters and conservative republicans. he's trying to bring them together under the same tent. which nobody has ever done before. it may not be possible. but he's giving it a try. >> you know, he's doing all sorts of things that don't necessarily fit into standard republican banters, if you will. one thing he's doing right now, he's also apparently backing a group that supports a group called the national association for gun rights, releasing ads attacking some republicans for being not tough enough as far as guns are concerned. i'll put up a -- i'll play a little bit of a clip of one of these ads. listen to this. >> virginia congressman eric cantor says had ehas a plan to improve the republican party. but it starts with passing obama's gun control schemes. cantor wants to hurt even more gun owners into a data base registration system. eric cantor doesn't sound like a virginiaian or republican anymore. eric cantor sounds like someone else.

>> now, apparently senator rand paul, he seems to be okay with this group, or at least he's involved a little bit, not backing it completely. what does that say to you? >> wolf, the group is trying to do what? i only heard the tail end of the ad. >> the group is saying some republicans aren't tough enough in fighting the new efforts for greater gun control and specifically point to eric cantor, the majority leader if the house, saying eric cantor doesn't sound like a virginian or republican anymore. >> i would say there, that rand paul is attacking away from the libertarian views of his father. now, the libertarians would say anything like this probably doesn't make sense. why does it make sense to have these kinds of controls. he's saying, look, he's saying to regular -- to conservatives, hey, i'm with you guys. i'm not a libertarian. that would be my interpretation of that. >> yeah, he is certainly

rewriting a new chapter and moving away from his dad. writing his own chapter, but moving up clearly among a lot of republicans and conservatives. certainly libertarians out there. thanks very much, rick stangel, from "time" magazine, for coming. >> thank you. there's news involving the new director in a string of other people. a special edition of "the situation room" coming up at the top of the hour. director's voice: here we go. from the top. and action for over 75 years people have saved money with gecko so.... director's voice: cut it! ...what...what did i say? gecko? i said gecko? aw... for over 75 year...(laughs. but still trying to keep it contained) director's voice: keep it together. i'm good. i'm good. for over 75...(uncontrollable laughter). what are you doing there? stop making me laugh. vo: geico. saving people money for over seventy-five years. gecko: don't look at me. don't look at me.

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the secret service and fbi are investigating yet another incident involving a website

that's posted suspected personal information belonging to senior government officials and celebrities. the latest victim, get this, the new secret service director, julia pierceon. we've got the details of what's going on. what is going on, renee? >> a posting of what it claims to be the personal information of a well-known, another well-known person. now, this time it is the new director of the secret service. the site lists as julia pearson's social security number and transunion credit report, which has what appears to be both bank and mortgage information. in addition to what credit cards pearson has. the fbi won't say if any of that information is accurate. but hast month, this same website posted what it claimed was the personal information of other government officials and celebrities. people like mitt romney, michelle obama, hillary clinton, oprah, lady gaga, the list is

extremely long. and again, we cannot verify that any of the posted information is accurate, or even up to date. the fbi won't say how this information may have been obtained, meaning was this information hacked, or did they get it by some other means. now, i did just make contact with transunion and they insist their website was not hacked. they said the perpetrator somehow collected enough information, enough personal information to access the credit report online. wolf, one more thing, we want to say both the fbi and secret service say they are investigating this latest incident. wolf? >> i would hope they are. renee, thanks very much for that report. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. this is "the situation room," special report, north korean crisis. happening now. north korea may, repeat, may, may be ready to launch. the sufficient is tracking

missile movements that could push the region closer to war. he's armed and dangerous. we're taking a closer look at what may be driving kim jong-un to make brazen threats and defy the world. dialing it down, the obama administration addresses concerns that its response to this crisis has only made this crisis has only made matters worse. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com north korea says it is on the brink of war. u.s. officials fear it may be planning a missile launch soon. the threats have been amping up every single day in a nation under the thumb of a young lead leader. this hour, our correspondents are taking an in-depth look at the threat to the united states and the world, and president obama's response. christian amanpour will give a

global view of this crisis unfolding right now. let's begin with barbara starr, who's watching all of this unfold. it's pretty tense. what's the latest, barbara? >> wolf, as you know, the talk has been hot rhetoric for days now. and now, new information about a possible missile test by north korea that poses a new threat. it's one of the most alarming signals yet, that kim jong-un is exercising his military might. cnn has learned that classified sufficient imagery and communication intercepts confirm north korea has moved up to two mobile missiles, launchers and fuel tanks to its east coast. the concern? kim jong-un is planning to test missiles that could threaten the region with little warning. >> the reaction time is much less when you have mobile launchers. >> reporter: the missile has a

2,500-mile range. it could some day hit targets as far away as guam and even alaska's west coast. the problem right now? the test could send a missile over japan. u.s. warships armed with their own missiles would have to quickly react if it looks like japanese territory is threatened. >> if the missile is mobile, we've got to either be following it constantly, or be lucky enough to surveil ought area it may be. >> reporter: u.s. intelligence satellites are scouring north korea's coastline for signs of a launch, especially here. this may also be a hidden launchpad somewhere, u.s. officials say. the ultimate concern is north korea has progressed in trying to put a nuclear warhead on top of these mobile missiles. it already has enough materiel for up to half a dozen nuclear bombs. but some experts warn the u.s. shouldn't get overexcited about kim's threats of war.

>> he and his advisers must know that this extortion will not work any longer. they are not going to be exacting any concessions from the united states or anyone else. >> reporter: now, still, the u.s. and allies hope that pyongyang will issue one of these standard notices to commercial aviation and shipping before it launches a missile towards japan, warning everyone to stay out of the launch or the impact area. looking for that notice, that's going to be the first sign that a launch may be imminent. wolf? >> let's hope that doesn't happen. barbara, thanks very much. let's get the reaction at the white house. how worried are they, brianna? >> white house officials are downplaying that there's any new real level of concern here, that they're significantly more concerned at this moment, they say north korea has been on the radar for a while. particularly since december,

with that ballistic missile test that was successful. but i'll tell you, the discussions here on north korea are very much in overdrive. one senior administration official telling me that top officials from the state department, the defense department, intelligence officials, have been meeting for, really, much more frequently here in the last week and a half in "the situation room." so north korea really becoming the most pressing foreign policy issue at this moment for the administration. >> bri an fa, stand by. pentagon officials are gaming up north korea's next moves right now. we're doing the same thing in the virtual studio. tom foreman is there, along with the retired u.s. army general james spider marks. walk us through this, tom. >> sure, wolf. all eyes right now, of course, are on the east coast of north korea. why, general, would they do this missile placement? there are two possible missiles along that coast. why? >> it's closer to the united

states presence in the renl and allies, japan, south korea, certainly. they didn't put it on the west coast because they're not trying to threaten china. >> we'll bring in a model of the type of missile we're talking about that barbara mentioned a moment ago. this is really designed to be used by soviet submarines. the iranians have a version of this. it doesn't look like much of a missile. there are no fins on it. let's talk more about it, because one of the keys is the mobility. >> absolutely. >> why does that matter so much? >> this is a mobile missile system. it can launch from any location. all it needs is a piece of level terrain, and within minutes, tom, this thing can launch. >> let's talk about the capability of this. we'll bring in the stats on this. fairly big, and a lot of different ways in which it can be presented, yes? >> tom, this is about 40 to 60 feet in length, payload of 2.6 tons. the warhead, we do not anticipate it has a nuclear warhead at all. we think it's high explosive.

>> so high explosives is the concern right there. yet when you talk about a high explosive weapon like this, the question does become range. let's bring in the map and talk about that. as barbara pointed out, you're talking maybe 2,500 miles, maybe one or two-stage missile. if it's two stages, it might get that far. and it becomes somewhat less reliable. but even best case scenario, they launch it, california has nothing to worry about. >> the mainland united states is not at risk at all. hawaii is not at risk. possibly the west coast of alaska. but what is at risk is korea, japan, and certainly down in guam. very much so. underneath that umbrella. >> and guam really matters. >> very important. that's where the united states air force has a very large b-52 bomber presence. those bombers are used in the defense of the peninsula. it's critical they stay protected. >> tens of thousands of troops in other areas here. one last question about all of this. if in fact this launches, one of these missiles, two of these

missiles launch there, whether or not north korea says it's a test, what happens pedally with all of our forces? >> when that missile launches, it says off an infrared signature which is picked up from our satellites if space. it's then tracked by sea, land, and air-based radar. and it will determine that totally automated system will determine the attitude, the location of where that missile is headed. >> computers are tracking it. the this is, by the way, an innertial guided missile. they'll know if it's headed to any u.s. or ally target, a ship, land, anything, what happens? >> that missile will be taken out by a high altitude anti-ballistic missile system. it will be gone. >> so there are many, many steps as you can see, wolf, if the analysis of where these missiles may be and what north korea's intentions may be. but the response would largely be the same, no matter what they say. >> intense, indeed.

guys, thanks very much. let's bring in chief international correspondent christian amanpour. also joining us, fareed zakaria. christiane, what's motivating all this talk? >> people have tried to psycho analyze kim jong-un. some say he's trying to prove himself to his own people, and even to those who may be pulling the puppet strings. who knows. what we know is what's being said and what the reaction is. i spoke to professor siegfried hecker, the last american to have gone into yeonpyeong, and he's very confident that they do not have the nuclear capability as the general said to threaten either south korea or the united states. they could perhaps deliver some kind of warhead to south korea, but not on a missile.

maybe by plane, maybe by a ship or truck. but they don't have that ballistic delivery capability. also, if te restart pong yong, like they said they would, at the ro sesing plant, it could take six months to a year. i went in there in 2008, i watched them disable it. that was sort of a honeymoon period between north korea and the west. as they disabled it. it comes to where it is right now. they said it could restart within six months to a year. >> the good old days. not such good days right now. fareed, the fear is, though, that there could be a miscalculation. even though no one thinks north korea is suicidal. they know they would be destroyed if they were to do something drastic. if there were an incident. the new government if south korea, if they responded, who knows what would happen. >> that's exactly right. imagine that one of these missiles is launched. the km-8 missiles. they don't have nuclear warheads small enough to put on them so

they would be high explosive, but launch it into the sky, we have destroyers that have radars, track them, we fire our own missile, the sm-3 to intercept and destroy it. then the north koreans feel they've lost face. they have to do something. they start attacking south korean patrol boats. you see, that's the danger. nobody wants this to happen. i think the obama administration is playing this just right, which is, this is at some level bluster. what you don't want to do is overreact to it, which then forces them to show that they're actually serious and you go down a tit for tat game. you've got to provide assurance and deterrence, assurance to the japanese and the south koreans, who are the most concerned, you have to deter the north koreans, but you cast play into this game. because they are somewhat irrational. they don't have very good command and control, one has to assume, and there could be some kind of miscalculation. >> does he really think he can

get concessions, kim jong-un, money from china, south korea, the united states by this tough talk? >> wolf, it's a pattern that has happened over the last decades with this regime. they do believe they can. and they have been able to do this, this sort of extortion policy, if you like, in this regard. obviously nobody wants to let that happen right now. the united states is now saying, you heard barbara starr say it, the state department said it today, they want to give some diplomacy an outlet. what they will reasonable not be doing over the next several weeks as these joint military games continue between south korea and the u.s., te won't be showing some of the more demonstrable shows of force, marine amphibious landing on the shores, but i think the diplomacy is the problem, and they haven't had real diplomacy between either the obama administration or bush administration.

>> is it time to send some sort of diplomatic envoy to pyongyang on behalf of the president of the united states? >> the bush administration actually did try diplomacy. they signed two agreements with the north koreans. the problem is, they cheat on them. they've cheated on every one of these. there's only one country with whom diplomacy would work, and that's china. the chinese provide 50% of north korea's food, 80% of its fuel. this are people in china who opened the taps and allowed north korea to survive. the problem is the chinese have never thought that they could put the real pressure on the north koreans without danger of the regime collapsing. so as for the chinese, they worry about all this stuff. they don't like the unpredict ability of this regime. millions of refugees into china, more importantly, it means almost inevitably the unification of the koreas, north and south, if the east german/west german style.

here's what you have on china's bord border, a very large korea, with seoul as the capital, 40,000 american troops, treaty alliance with the united states and nuclear weapons. >> guys, it's a complex situation, but it's perilous right now. we'll continue this conversation. also, a prodder look at north korea's military and massive fire power, the danger goes much deeper than simply one missile test. and later, from the nba to north korea, did dennis rodman's recent visit have any influence at all on kim jong-un?

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he's critical in all of this. tell us what we know. >> reporter: well, to the outside world, he is simply the odd offspring of a tyrant, more image than man, image developed by north korea's twisted propaganda machine. he is the third of the kim dynasty, a man not yet 30, in command of a nuclear arsenal, ballistic missiles and the world's fourth largest army. kim jong-un is in pane ways an enigma, and a dangerous one at that. the youngest son of kim jong-il, he had a privileged upbringing while millions of north koreans starved. brazilian classmate remembers him as a shy teenager. >> he was very quiet. he didn't speak with anyone. he was a competitive at sports. for him, he didn't like to lose. >> reporter: he liked basketball

and football and video games. his father had served a long apprenticeship before taking over the kingdom. but kim jong-un was catapulted into the leadership without serving a day in the military. when his father died in december of 2011, kim jong-un became supreme leader if the state propaganda machine. >> they've been trying to establish this myth regarding his expertise. he speaks eight languages, a military genius, and technical genius. >> reporter: and a leader with a complete backing of the military. in his first public remarks as leader, he talked about the heart break of a divided korea. but there was also a warning. >> translator: our military has become a powerful military. able to handle any kind of modern warfare with complete offensive and defensive capabilities. the foreign powers are not the

only ones with a monopoly on military supremacy. >> reporter: but he also promised no more famine. >> translator: we will not let our citizens go hungry again. >> reporter: kim has tried to promote his youthful side. attending a concert with disney characters, and a youth festival. watching basketball with dennis rodman. kim jong-un has already married. his young attractive wife. he's also reinforced north korea's military first policy. with the successful launch of a ballistic missile if december and another underground nuclear test in february. the biggest and most dangerous gap is that we simply do not know, wolf, what is happening inside this young man's mind. wolf? >> a lot of technical information. the world knows about north korea, but inside stuff,

obviously, that is a key problem. we'll get back to you if seoul, south korea. about 30 miles or so from the demilitarized zone with north korea. north korea's nuclear capabilities are an open question. their conventional military is heavily equipped, capable of inflicting immense casualties and damages on the millions and millions of people just below the demilitarized zone. let's go back to tom forman for this. >> a tremendous amount of power if the hands of this young man. let's talk about this nuclear capability first. what do we really think they have right now is this. >> tom, we think they have eight bombs. they probably have the materiel for 12. we don't think these are weaponized. they haven't been married up with a missile capability to launch somewhere else. >> as long as they're not able to be delivered well, they're not weaponized. >> correct. >> they have a tremendous amount of artillery and rockets,

missiles. talk about that some. >> the north korean military, the korean people army was trained by the soviets and trained by the chinese communists. so they rely on volumes and volumes of artillery fire. so they have a massive amount of artillery and surface-to-surface missiles. we would see those at the start of a conflict. >> a lot of this has been dug in since the end of the korean conflict. they've been preparing for 50 years for the next one. >> they sure have. where the armistice was signed, back in '53, 1953, is where a lot of those units remain today. >> okay. and beyond that, there is this question of the shear number of people they have for a really quite small country. massive army. >> they have the fifth largest military in the world. over 1 million men under arms. that's on the active component. the reserve component has got about 8 million folks. that's about the largest reserve in the world. >> are they considered to be

well trained? >> the active component, very well trained. and in fact, when you compare the military to the population, the military has a much higher level of nutrition training. so they are prepared. >> they have a navy, so to speak. they have an air force. they have submarines. but we don't think of those in the traditional way we do other forces like that. >> let me talk about the air force for a second. our primary concern about their air force is for the insertion of their very large, over 100,000 special operations forces. now, the navy can also insert special operations forces through midget submarines and other type of water craft that they have. then they would also activate sleeper agents if the south, and they would go after targets to disrupt the decision-making capability of the united nations command. >> so the simple truth is, wolf, even if you get past the nuclear question here, there's a formidable military force if north korea right now. >> it's huge indeed. could cause enormous, enormous destruction and disaster.

guys, thanks for that report. still ahead, an administration insider, on president obama's north korea playbook and what's worrying him most right now. and life in north korea, as i saw it, when i was there, during another time of crisis in the region. t a thing at all? it's lots of things. all waking up. ♪ becoming part of the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ trees will talk to networks will talk to scientists about climate change. cars will talk to road sensors will talk to stoplights about traffic efficiency. the ambulance will talk to patient records will talk to doctors about saving lives. it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. the next big thing?

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happening now, north korea's dangerous new military moves. one miscalculation by either side could be a disaster. national security insiders tell us what they're learning about the u.s. response. thousands of americans are at risk on the korean peninsula right now. we're going to explore america's

stake in a region that could explode literally at any moment. and kim jong-un's new pal. did dennis rodman have any influence at all on the north korean leader or on his plan of attack? i'm wolf blitzer, and this is "the situation room" special report, the north korean crisis. the obama administration is struggling right now to calm an explosive situation if north korea. as we reported, kim jong-un may be gearing up for a new missile launch soon after weeks of warmongering. take a look at how he's ramping up tensions if the region. >> tensions began to sky robert if mid-february when north korea went ahead with its third nuclear test. imposed punishing new sanctions a few weeks later. the u.s. planned war games with south korea, and the north said it was pulling out of the agreement that ended the korean

war. direct threats against america intensified. north korean tv aired a video simulating an attack on the white house and the capital building. in a show of force, the u.s. added nuclear capable b-2 stealth bombers to its military drills with south korea. then, kim jong-un put his forces on standby to strike the u.s. mainland. guam and hawaii. and he declared a state of war with the south. u.s. stealth fighter jets joined those war games in the region. and the threats went nuclear. north korea said it would restart a closed plutonium reactor. the regime claimed its plans for a nuclear attack on the u.s. were ready to go. the u.s. has ordered missile defenses to nearby guam as fears grow that north korea may be planning a launch soon. we've assembled our own security council here if "the situation room." including some of the more

knowledgeable folks about north korea, to try to break all of this down for you. joining us is tommy, served if the obama white house. he's a former spokesman for the national security council. also joining us, christopher hill, former u.s. ambassador to south korea. fou dean at the school of international studies at the university of denver. and retired u.s. navy admiral william fallon, served as the head of the u.s. pacific command and u.s. central command. admiral fallon, what worries me the most is a miscalculation that could trigger all-out war. am i overly concerned or are you concerned about that as well? >> wolf, i think it's prudent to be concerned, and certainly pay close attention to this. but i believe it thing may be a little bit overhyped right now. >> tell us why. >> well, the first thing is, his ability to strike the u.s., i think is mostly talk. there's a possibility that some of his missiles might be able to

range alaska, or possibly a u.s. territory or bases closer in. but unlikely, they've never demonstrated an ability to get anything to fly as far as the u.s. it took them many years to try to get that one missile that we call the tea pong-2 to fly. i think it's a lot of rhetoric. it's not helpful, of course, but this is a lot of the same old stuff out of the playbook that his father and grandfather used. and it's unfortunate. you've got to wonder what he's up to, and what the real motivation is, whether he's just trying to act strong in front of his military people. or again, what's worked in the past, in some instances, is to act outrageously and demand some kind of concession, and move on. but it is a time to be very attentive. i think the u.s. has made prudent moves. we have a significant missile defense capability. our people are certainly up to the task. from what i can see, i don't get

any daily intel reports anymore, but it looks like we've taken the appropriate precautions. >> where is diplomacy, ambassador, hill, fit into this? the u.s. does have indirect contacts with north korea. the south koreans do. japan, china. but where should the u.s. be engaged right now, trying to ease it crisis? >> i think there are basically two tracks. one is with our allies, south korea and japan. i think it's been very important that we reassure them, and that we not hold back on these annual exercises. so if there's an air component to these exercises, we need to go through that. we need to assure our allies. that's one track. the second track is, of course, is with china. china may deny that they have a lot of leverage with the north koreans. but they do. and there's a lot more they can do. a third possible track might be with the north koreans. but you know, they kind of

started this dance. i'm not sure it would be in our interests to approach them. to leave in our mind that we're worried, afraid or somehow blinking. i think we need to be very careful if how we would deal directly with the north koreans. i'd rather see a much more of an effort with china. >> tommy, you know that back when he was a candidate in 2007, 2008, president obama at that point made it clear, he's willing to talk to these kinds of despots, if you will, without pre-conditions. dennis rodman came back from north korea saying, call him. kim jong-un. do you think that's something the president would even consider? >> huge thank you to dennis rodman for delivering that message. i think the president has expressed a willingness to have direct negotiations or conversations with north koreans. but those need to be constructive. they can't be in the context of these absurd threats and this propaganda and continued nuclear development, continued tests of

intercontinental ballistic technology. i agree with what the admiral said, i think anytime you combine long-range missile technology, efforts to develop a nuclear program, that's something you have to take very seriously. but the bottom line is, the united states has been working on missile defense technology for years. and 14 more ground intercepters will be put on the west coast, radar capability if the region. there are additional military ships in the region, as part of regularly scheduled military exercises. this is something we're well prepared for. i don't think your viewers should worry there's an immediate homeland threat, because the north koreans simply haven't indicated, or tested some of the weapons that would give them that capability. >> everybody stand by for a moment. i want to go it the white house right now. brianna keilar is standing by. so, are they worried at the white house, brianna, about this escalation that's been going on now for the past few weeks? and whether it has gone too far?

>> well, certainly, wolf, there's a lot of talk among white house officials that they want to see things de-escalate. and you're seeing that in some of their changing rhetoric today. they also insist, though, that this sort of show of force has been a necessary deterrent to show kim jong-un that if he's going to make good on his threats, there will be consequences. i'll tell you, pentagon officials have been more candid with cnn. they say that after accusing north korea of amping up its rhetoric, they're afraid they may have done the same thing. worried that muscular displays of military might may have pushed the north korean military too far, the obama administration is changing its tone and said north korea should, too. >> we've also been saying all the way through, that it does not need to get hotter. that it can -- we can change course here, if the dprk will begin to come back into compliance with its international obligations, will

begin to cool things down. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry is leading the effort to dial back the discord, sources tell cnn, while behind the scenes at the white house attention to an increasingly threatening north korea is in overdrive. a senior administration source says top officials have been meeting for frequently in the situation room for the last week and a half. deputies from the president's national security council, the defense and state departments, the cia, and the joint chiefs of staff, among others are at the table. victor cha was a top adviser to president george w. bush. >> i think they're watching very carefully the situation. i think they're watching to see if there are military maneuvers, or a higher level of military alert on the ground in north korea, that is accompanying all of this rhetoric. >> now, don't expect north korea to be leaving the headlines anytime soon, though, wolf. the new president park will be

here next month visiting with president obama. their first visit. and it's certainly expected, i would say, that north korea, as it does at times, may act up and try to steal some of the attention during that time as well. >> brianna, thanks very much. let's go wack to our guests for some further analysis right now. there is a new government, ambassador hill, in south korea, and president park, she's tough. if there is some sort of provocation, i suspect unlike her pre deceaser, she might respond right away, and that could escalate a dangerous situation. >> well, she's tough, but i think the times have changed somewhat. and this north korean bluster is pretty serious. so i ti the problem is, the north koreans might feel they can get away with some incident, where as you suggest, i think the south koreans would hit them back pretty hard. and there does appear to be some shift in the rules of engagement, that is local commanders seem to be empowered to move right back at them

rather than phone home to seoul. so i think it is kind of a dangerous situation. and as we look at the various paths of this crisis, i think this kind of inadvertent conflict could be the most serious. >> as you know, admiral fallon, two years or so ago, when i was in north korea, the north koreans did bomb an island, they killed a whole bunch of south koreans. they attacked a south korean warship, killed a lot of sailors. the saurouth koreans at that po did not retaliate. but i would suspect if they did those things again, the situation would explode. >> i think it's noteworthy that within the last week or ten days, there was an agreement reached between the u.s. and the republican of korea, i don't know the details of it, but it sounds to me like it was a heightened effort to consult very closely in the event of some untoward incident, or unpredictable activity on the part of the dprk. you know, we worked very, very

closely, have for many years with our south korean allies. there's a well integrated plan, lots of discussion, and exercises for many years. we work very well together. there's a high level of confidence between the two militaries. and i think, again, this is a time to certainly be very attentive to take prudent precautions, which i believe we're doing. and to consult very closely with our allies in the region. because this is fundamentally a regional issue. >> tommy, you worked with the president for a long time when you were at the national security council. give us a little flavor how he deals with an emerging crisis like this. >> well, the first thing i'd say, wolf, is these problems with north korea didn't emerge just recently. this is something he's been working on for a long time. but you're right when there's an incident like this, or a series of incidents, the tempo picks up. the deputy's committee will pete

more regularly. the president will receive regular briefings about the issue, and other venues. i don't think the white house is on high alert right now, as a result of these actions. it's something they've been aware of and working on for a long time. if the long game here, i think conversations with the chinese. the united states can, you know, work to get more sanctions on north korea, and do a variety of other efforts to increase diplomatic pressure. the chinese would just turn the screws a little more. they could have a real impact with north korea. they need to stop letting them get away with these temper tantrums. >> tommy, thanks very much. admiral fallon, and christopher hill, guys, we'll continue this conversation. if cooler heads can't prevail and shooting actually begins, many important u.s. targets could be within range of north korea's guns. and thousands, tens of thousands of u.s. troops. also coming up this hour, pictures from my own rare visit

to north korea.

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north korea isn't the only country doing some serious military muscle flexing right now. a pair of stealth bombers has made the round trip from missouri to south korea and back. plenty of other u.s. fire power is deployed much closer to north korea and could become targets. cnn's pentagon correspondent chris lawrence is joining us with more on what's going on. what are you seeing, what are you learning, chris? >> well, wolf, you've got thousands of american troops stationed just about 15 miles south of the dmz, and you've got

all of north korea's heavy armor and artillery aimed right at them. 25 miles, it's the magic number as far as american troops are concerned. some of north korea's massive artillery can fire up to four mortar rounds a minute, 25 miles away. >> u.s. forces that are near the front are probably going to be within range of the artillery. >> reporter: about 10,000 american troops are deployed to bases around camp casey, just 15 miles from the dmz. others are concentrated at olsaun air base. the u.s. recently put radar-evading raptors. but the risk the troops deployed closest to the dmz will change. over the next few years, the u.s. will move them to another base south of seoul. >> that means that the bulk of u.s. military forces in korea are not going to necessarily be

in range of the artillery strikes at the beginning. >> reporter: farther out in the western pacific, the navy deployed the uss decatur and uss mccain, armed with a sophisticated radar system to detect north korean missiles, and then launch rockets to intersent and destroy them. the first reinforcements could come from one of the many american bases in japan, home to the navy's 7th fleet and more than 100 aircraft. and some 2,000 miles away, north korea threatened a nuclear strike on gu all. now the u.s. is deploying a land-based missile defense system, somewhat easing fears of an attack on the u.s. territory. >> though i hearken to see these improvements in the defense posture, i am concerned, not only as a governor, but as a man who has a wife and children and grandchildren here. >> those are the -- some of the same concerns that husbands, wives and children here in the u.s. have for their service

members who are stationed over there in south korea. one of the big advantages ta the u.s. has is how quickly they can reinforce troops within two weeks, wolf. they could double the size of their combat aircraft and triple the size of u.s. ground troops in the area. >> yeah, guam there, almost 6,000 u.s. troops based there at any one time. not very far away indeed. chris, thanks very much. north korea only has two direct neighbors right now, south korea and china. the saber rattling has nerves on edge in both countries. let's get the latest from our correspondents in the two capitals, starting with cnn jim clancy in seoul. >> reporter: the south korean capital could become ground zero if there would be a conflict here on the korean peninsula. the people who live here know that it's not the nuclear arms, it is the conventional weapons that are possessed by the north that could reduce it city, or parts of it at least to ashes in a short period of time.

older people tell me that this is the most tense time they can remember since the end of the korean war, some 60 years ago. younger people say, we can't relate to it. we are post-war. they do not believe that kim jong-un is going to attack the south. they believe, instead, that what he wants to do is to blackmail south korea. to get the money, to get the food aid, in order to keep his dictatorship afloat. jim clancy, cnn, seoul. >> let's go to david mckenzie right now in beijing. what's going on over there? because everyone seems to think china could play a critically important role if the government in beijing decided to. >> reporter: well, wolf, it's a smoggy day here in beijing, and the mood is certainly darkening here in china, with longtime ally north korea ratcheting up the rhetoric, and making moves for possibly a missile strike.

the key may be china, wolf, with china having a lot of influence over pyongyang. they could close the fuel taps and conventional military ties between the two countries. a lot of frustration here in beijing, with north korea, though, in recent months, particularly with the missile test, and nuclear test. their frustrations might be boiling over and they could be pushing for north korea to get to the negotiating table. wolf is this. >> david mckenzie in beijing for us, watching it very closely. thank you. i was in north korea just two years ago. stand by for a rare look. plus, we're going to assess the impact of dennis rodman's improbable visit with the north korean leader.

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north korea's threat and military power, it's people that don't have much. they live under a very difficult conditions. i got a rare look inside secretive nation. when i traveled there at the end of 2010. >> thank you so much. during my six days of north kor korea, i didn't see a whole lot of color unless you count the propaganda posters. we visited in the winter when buildings often go unheated. in this school, it's so cold in the classroom you could see their breath. even today top leaders often wear overcoats indoors. why the hardships? because so much of their limited money goes to the military. according to the cia, north korea industry is crippled and

there are chronic food shortages. >> basically it's a starving country. always they are looking for better food. where is something to eat, to fill my stomach? >> starvation reportedly killed up to two million people in the 1990s. this 24-year-old defected from north korea six years ago. >> translator: you can see dead people everywhere on the street. >> in this satellite photo, south korea is blazing with lights at night. north korea is pitch black, except for the capitol. that capitol, pyongyang, is the home of top government officials with good salaries and impressive offices. we're on top of the world's tallest stone tower here overlooking pyongyang. it really is majestic to see what is going on. you see the river. you see the bitter cold, freezing snow. the buildings are really impressive to see what's going on here in the north korean capital. but one thing we noticed, not a lot of people with cars. there's not a lot of traffic

here. it's icy here. the streets are icy. you see a lot of people shoveling. and there you see the hammer and sickle of this communist government manifestations of the communist philosophy. the subway is clean and orderly. although the lights don't always stay on. it's very deep underground. it doubles as a bomb shelter. and it is filled with propaganda pictures and even patriotic music. we're moving now. it's smooth. in spite of the propaganda, analysts say, the population may be getting other glimpses of the world. >> the younger generations are very skillfully adapting using the internet and gaining momentum and finding the information. and they finally are asking, north korea is not paradise on earth. it's actually hell on earth. but why are we living like this? >> up next, a wild card in u.s. relations with north korea, the former nba star, dennis rodman.

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dennis rodman and the north korean leader watched basketball together and ate sushi in february. his country loves him. love him. guess what? yes, yes, i love him. i love him. the guy is awesome. >> rodman was there for a hbo series. well, you know, it's hard to -- when i heard that dennis rodman was going, i couldn't believe

it. i don't know about you, you can't make this kind of stuff up. >> he wanted michael jordan. michael jordan, perhaps, wisely decided not to go. >> he declined. >> you know this partly tells you is this 29-year-old boy is not running national security strategy. the guy is a few months in the job. there is a military dictatorship. he is full fli control of basketball policy for north korea. but national security policies probably being controlled by very senior generals. >> he is the son of kim jing i will. >> it unifies the country and keeps the regime intact. but probably behind the scenes there are people actually pulling the strings which makes it more kblikt complicated. >> where do you see this going, bottom line? >> i think they will be deterred. they're trying to get attention. they're trying tt